Completing the picture of Joseph Smith's First Vision

In previous posts, I had indicated my view that it is actually the Holy Ghost who is being introduced as the second personage in the First Vision experienced by Joseph Smith.


I had also left vague the implied identify of the first personage, as it is not completely settled in my mind as to who this is, but if I follow logically on what I have written previously about the Holy Ghost, and in particular the commentary on his role based Jesus' words (found at the post here), then I come to the conclusion that the first personage is Jesus.


Having the first personage as Jesus and the second as the Holy Ghost fits well with the overall narrative that has developed in my head regarding the Holy Ghost, but it also allows all of the versions of the First Vision attributable to Joseph to be accurate and consistent. Meaning, Jesus was in fact there, as implied in the first account that we have, and there is now probably a reason that Joseph changed his language to 'two personages' and didn't specifically identify either one in the late versions. This has something to do with the fact that Joseph was told things he was not to repeat, as well as the significance of what happened was probably too difficult to try and communicate.  In other words, if people had trouble letting go of some of their earlier religious traditions in listening to what Joseph taught, then getting them to fully understand and embrace what the First Vision meant for the Holy Ghost might have been just too much to try and tackle. Also, perhaps this is how the Holy Ghost wanted it at the time - left vague.  I am not sure.


In any case, having Jesus as the first personage that then introduces the second as his son radically changes traditional Mormon interpretations of this event. The standard assumption is based largely on the event involving Jesus at Bountiful, where a voice from heaven (God the Father) introduces Jesus as his son and instructs these people to 'hear him'. What is happening here in Bountiful, I believe, is that the being known as God the Father is telling the people that authority has been given to Jesus, and that they are to listen to him as a primary source of truth because the Father has authorized Jesus to act on his behalf.


Since the first personage is using basically the same language in instructing Joseph to hear his son, it would be more than natural to assume that this encounter involves the same beings as at Bountiful. But it is an incomplete assumption, and I think an incorrect one.  Again, if the language of 'hear him' is about ensuring a witness or people understand that one being has been authorized to speak on behalf of another, then it does not necessarily have to follow that this is always and only said with the same two heavenly beings in all instances.


In this case, I believe what Joseph is experiencing and witnesses is Jesus giving his authority to the Holy Ghost. From this time forward, in this dispensation, it is the Holy Ghost's show to run, basically. He has been authorized to act for and on behalf of Jesus. Recall the items listed in my earlier post on the Holy Ghost and John 14-16. In my view they point directly to this - the Holy Ghost will bear the name and authority of Jesus in the last days. In the early stages, it was and is through guiding others (such as Joseph and, I believe, Tolkien), and then he will also re-enter mortality as a Man in the 'final' stages of the overall plan that has been put into motion in these days.


In this story, I should also note that I believe this means the Holy Ghost is the servant that Jesus discusses in his discourse to those at Bountiful (the one who at one point will be 'exalted and extolled and be very high'), and as part of this, I believe this servant is also the seer that was mentioned in Lehi's summary of Joseph of Egypt's prophecy. Meaning this: when the Holy Ghost has been born, and ultimately when he receives the stone (the Sawtooth Stone) that is destined to break all of the kingdoms of this earth, all of us will then know at that time that the work of God the Father has truly begun. That work will involve the Holy Ghost and those working with him to rescue the scattered Family of Light and establish and set in order the kingdom of his Father (Jesus) once again on the Earth.


We have then, in this narrative, a linkage between what Mormons call the Godhead - God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, with Jesus being the 'greatest' of these. I think the relationship between these three will be clarified by the Holy Ghost, since one of his jobs is to testify and bear record of the Father and the Son. In this linkage, just as Jesus received all things and authority from God the Father, so has now the Holy Ghost received all things from Jesus, just as Jesus said he would in his words found in John.


This all then means this:  The Holy Ghost has been found to be a good steward in a few things up to this point, and has now been made a steward or ruler of many things. The First Vision account of Joseph was partially a witness of Joseph to this fact.


I also wanted to note and tie in the little-referenced "Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language" (GAEL) written by Joseph Smith. It is 'little-reference' because I don't think anybody knows what to do with it, and its likely an embarrassment for any trained linguists or Egyptologists. But, I believe 'Egyptian' is not what we mean today by Egyptian, so that really isn't where we should be looking for help.


As I have written before, I believe Joseph was Pippin from Tolkien's stories. Pippin became deeply involved the history (and I assume language) of Numenor following the events of the LOTR. When Joseph says Egypt, I think we should more infer this as Numenorean. In the GAEL, therefore, I believe we have some of Pippin's work and knowledge bleeding through the consciousness of Joseph.


In the GAEL, we come across a character name (two character names, actually, but the definitions found in the text strongly support that they refer to the same person). That character is Ja-ho-e-oop, or also Jah ni hah. These names come with a definition or description. They are below:

Ja-ho-e-oop: An ambassador: one delegated with Kingly power; one authorized to execute judgement for the King; a swift messenger one whose power cannot be escaped, one next to supreme;

Jah ni hah: One delegated from the highest source acting in or being clothed with the power of another; one sent from the Celestial Kingdom (there are other definitions for this name, depending on the 'degree' such as: one that with delegated and redeeming power, and second in authority; being a swift messenger going before, and having redeeming power, as second in authority: and stands next to a or an the right hand of power)

In these descriptions I find the Holy Ghost - the one delegated and given authority speak and act on Jesus' behalf, even being given redeeming power.


In these descriptions, Joseph is defining the being that he would have met in his own experience, and that one that he has been instructed to listen to. The Holy Ghost is the one that is speaking to Joseph throughout his life, or at least is the one that Joseph is trying to listen to (I can't be 100% certain that imposters or other voices didn't intercede at any point). It is this same voice that calls Joseph 'my son'.


Thus, I also view the First Vision as a family affair, and just as the Holy Ghost is the son of Jesus from a time and world long before this one, so too is Joseph Smith the son of the Holy Ghost, also from a time before this one, but so too at least once on this earth during the various different identities both have assumed.   Further, there is at least one other instance in the story of this earth in which they shared a very close relationship and friendship, though not directly as family.  That will be for another post, however.